Russia's Gazprom Drilling Big New Gas Field

Russia's state-controlled energy company, Gazprom(NASDAQOTH: OGZPY.PK), has begun production at a huge natural gas field in northern Russia, The Associated Press reported today. The field in question is called the Bovanenkovskoye gas field, and it's located on the Yamal peninsula, which is east of northern Scandanavia, and juts into the Kara Sea.

The field is expected to produce 46 billion cubic meters of gas in 2013, more than doubling by 2017 to 115 billion cubic meters annually, according to the AP. Total reserves are believed to be around 4.9 trillion cubic meters in the field.

Gazprom is pushing natural gas as a fuel source in Russia. The company owns 208 of the 243 compressed natural gas filling stations in the country, and noted that one of its primary objectives is "to considerably expand the NGV (natural gas vehicle) fuel business."